


The Night Before Christmas

by Ultra



Series: Moments in Time [39]
Category: Leverage
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Christmas, Christmas Fluff, F/M, Home, Hurt Eliot Spencer, Love, Parker Being Parker (Leverage), Reading Aloud
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-19
Updated: 2013-12-19
Packaged: 2020-03-06 00:40:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,473
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18840091
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ultra/pseuds/Ultra
Summary: 'Twas the night before Christmas and all Parker wisheds for was Eliot.





	The Night Before Christmas

**Author's Note:**

> originally written for vampgirly on LiveJournal.

“Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse...”

Parker tried to smile like she always did when reading aloud from the book on her knees. Unfortunately, this Christmas just didn’t feel as holly jolly as it should. She knew she had been lucky to have so many good Christmasses over the past few years, it would be greedy to want another, and yet Parker longed for the happiness she had known before. All her traditions felt wrong by herself, she had gotten so used to company. When she met the team and they fast became family, it was almost perfect. When they had split a while back it was one thing she worried about but she needn’t have done so. Christmas with Hardison and Eliot had been fun, and the last three years, just her and Eliot were the best of all.

It never could work out right with her and Hardison. Parker wondered how they managed to go on so long in kidding themselves. In the end, they had split amicably, both of them knowing that it wouldn’t be long before she ended up with the man she truly wanted - Eliot Spencer. Hardison had left and the team was finally splintered for good. Parker dealt with it okay because she still had Eliot, and because her family were only ever a phone or Skype call away. Every Christmas they had contacted each other, and this year was no different. Parker had talked to Sophie and Nate in Europe, and Hardison in Australia, smiling brightly, assuring them everything was fine. It wasn’t.

It had been eleven days now. Eliot had got a message from an old friend, calling in a favour, and he had to go. He promised to do his best to be back before Christmas, but now here was Christmas Eve night, and Parker was still alone. She had put up the tree and all the decorations, bought the food, wrapped the gifts, all alone. Her final tradition was to read aloud from this book before she went to bed. Though she could intone the words easily without hardly glancing at the page, Parker wasn’t feeling anything. She spoke of St Nicholas coming to bring presents for all the good girls and boys. She sped through stanza after stanza, for the first time ever wishing she didn’t have to have traditions, that she had never learnt this poem or read this book. Life was easier if you didn’t care about things or people, and yet Parker did care now. She loved Eliot like she never loved anyone, and he was supposed to be here with her, tonight of all nights.

Tears started to come to her eyes, a sound outside made her start and Parker fought against the sadness and the panic. She concentrated hard on the book and continued reading, blocking out everything but the words she spoke aloud.

“He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, and away they all flew like the down of a thistle,” she said too loudly. “But I heard him exclaim, as he drove out of sight...”

“Happy Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!”

The end of the poem came from somewhere other than her own lips, and Parker knew before she ever turned around that she was no longer alone. She gasped as she scrambled to her feet and took in the sight of him. Eliot was stood there in the half light of the moon through the window, battered and bruised, but alive and here with her at last.

“Eliot!” she exclaimed, running at him full pelt.

The force of her colliding with his body felt like nothing, despite the fact Eliot knew his left leg was in bad shape and his torso was a mass of bruises. This was Parker, who he had fought his way back to right on time for Christmas, and she could crush every bone in his body if she wanted to, just so long as he had her here in his arms. He let the weight of her take him down, the pair of them falling onto the couch in a tangle of limbs. Eliot couldn’t feel any pain, not so long as he was home with Parker.

“I missed you, babe,” he told her as she peppered his face with kisses. “You got no idea how much.”

“Missed you too,” she promised, right before her lips found his and a long, deep kiss began.

Neither wanted to let up for a second, and though Eliot had no idea how his body was still even functioning, he was determined to make this night what it should be. Sure, they’d only been apart just over a week, but it felt like a lifetime where he was. He and Parker were together so much, and she had to know the danger he was in out there, even though he assured her it’d be okay. Now they were reunited, and he planned on proving to her the love they often made clear, though neither of them were much for speaking the words on a regular basis.

The couch was no place for making up for lost time and Eliot knew it. He manoeuvred Parker into his arms and picked her up, meaning to carry her to their bed. His knee gave out when he tried to stand and he missed dropping her by an inch, more thanks to her quick reactions than his own. She was frowning at him when she realised what just happened.

“I’ll heal,” he promised. “Trust me, it’s not gonna make any difference when I’m lying down,” he told her with a smirk that came naturally.

“You made it back for Christmas,” she said then, as if she only just realised.

“You really thought I’d miss it?” he asked, putting a hand into her hair, cupping her tear-stained cheek. “Doing the things I have to do sometimes, its all about having something to fight my way back for. That’s you, Parker,” he told her seriously. “You know that, right?”

She nodded dumbly, feeling so very overwhelmed. From perfect agony a few minutes ago when she thought she must spend Christmas without him, never knowing if Eliot was coming back at all, and now in perfect happiness Parker had her man home and a promise that he would always get back to her somehow.

“I’m sorry I missed most of your book,” he said then, tilting his head towards Parker’s abandoned copy of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’ lying on the carpet by the Christmas tree. “I know what it means to you.”

Parker frowned, rushed to pick up the book and put it carefully on the table. It wasn’t the first copy she ever had. In fact, the first time she heard it was in the one nice foster home she had as a child. Two Christmasses she got in that house before everything fell apart, still she held on to the happy memory and made the poem part of her traditions for Christmas. It did mean a lot to her, but something else meant more.

“It’s not as important as having you home,” she told Eliot as she came back across the room to him. “I... I love you more than anything,” she told him, still feeling odd whenever the L word needed to be said, even though she knew that was exactly what she felt. “All I wished for this Christmas was for you to come home.”

“Well, you got your wish.” He smiled as they went in to each others arms. “And there’s gotta be something wrong with you if this is what you wanted,” he teased her, though there was a painful truth beneath the joke.

Eliot never would understand why he meant so much to Parker. He knew all the wonderful things about her that made her so special. God only knew what she saw in him, but he was as grateful for it as he’d ever been for anything in his whole life.

“I got the best gift,” Parker grinned wickedly then. “Now I just wanna unwrap it.”

Eliot laughed at what he knew she was implying and happily let Parker take him by the hand and lead him to their bedroom. Home never meant as much as when he found her and fell in love. Now he knew he would always get back to her, no matter what it took. Still, Eliot was highly aware that supreme forces were at work this time around. Logic dictated he never should’ve survived what he went through, nevermind made it back here. He’d chalk this one up as a Christmas miracle, as he and Parker closed the bedroom door and bid the world outside goodnight.


End file.
